


How Is It That Dragons Can Fly?

by zinc_chameleon



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-22 00:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7410598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinc_chameleon/pseuds/zinc_chameleon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short lecture by Maester Zhilogous on the impossibility of dragon flight, as opposed to its reality, with a small digression into magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Is It That Dragons Can Fly?

**How Is It That Dragons Can Fly?**

_A Lecture given at Citadel, in the Twenty-first Year of the Reign of Queen Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen_

by Maester Zhilogous, Curator of the Targaryen Archives

Since the emergence of Dragons in Westeros and Essos during the last decades of Queen Daenerys' rule, many attempts have been made to eradicate them, or conversely to tame them. My talk today is not concerned with either option; what I wish to do is to explain how it is that they can fly at all.

I will use two sources to explain this intellectual predicament: my own observations as an amateur ornithologist, and my background in magical studies, my specialty being Targaryen archival work.

First, I want you to consider your favorite flying bird. Perhaps it is a crow, or a hawk, or a gull. Note their wingspan; each and every one of them has a single wing at least the length of its body, or longer (in the case of the gull). Combine those two wings, and you have a general calculation of 'flight requires a wingspan of at least two body lengths'.

Now consider every sighting of a dragon in the last ten years; think of all the highly accurate drawings made by trained observers. Not one...I repeat...not one of those dragons had a wingspan approaching more than one body length. Some were measured at less than that by the Maesters who lived to tell the story.

Yet they all fly! 

A serious student of dragon lore should have a question at this point. If what I am saying is the truth, then these creatures would not be able to even lift themselves off the ground, let alone fly for any great length of time. They must have some other means of aviation. How would one account for this anomaly and by what other means could they possibly fly? Many learned Maesters would appreciate a well-thought-out answer immensely.

Some of you in the audience are probably asking themselves: "Isn't this question overly pedantic, the kind of wool-gathering that gives Maesters a slightly musty odor, if not a bad name?"

"My answer is a resounding no. And that is because I believe at the heart of the matter lies an understanding of magic, the very thing that Maesters were created to overcome and ignore.

"Many of you in the audience have had the great opportunity to observe Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion--the Queen's children--at close range, during a royal celebration. In that respect, many of you have seen the Queen allow her dragon children to cook and eat a sheep or goat or two in the presence of her subjects, so that they learn to respect rather than fear the dragons, as it is well known that dragons can read the intents of human hearts."

"But let me tantalize you with this small query: have you ever seen anything drip from the organs of fire generation in the corners of those dragon mouths? You haven't have you? I will contend that is because Dragon fire is not composed of earthly chemicals, but is alchemical--should I say magical?--in nature."

"I would expect scoffers to pose this answer: "Isn't Dragon fire just a combination of naturally occurring chemicals, resulting in an explosive mixture, much the same as that hideous creation of human knowledge, namely Wildfire?" To answer that we would need a living dragon to dissect, so that we could locate the glands that can produce such an incredible amount of Dragon fire. And here at this point in the argument, I would like to bring forth an exhibit not seen by human eyes for more than a century, one of the last dragons in captivity, graciously bestowed on the Citadel by Queen Daenerys herself, to promote a better understanding of Dragons, with a view to their continued health and longevity." 

"Here in this large jar, preserved in the best High Garden honey, is a specimen. Note that it is no larger than a big tabby cat. We have already carefully dissected it, and then even more carefully restored it to its original shape, out of respect for its breed, and for the wishes of our wise Queen."

"If you look at the very large parchment to its right, you will see an anatomical diagram of all its internal organs and sensory systems. Behold and stand in awe. There are no such glands in its mouth or throat, or thoracic cavity. Those nozzles in its mouth connect not to gland or gut, but to the back part of its brain, the area known for co-ordination of movement."

"Let me point out to our candidate Maesters that I have left the rectangular structures of pure deductive logic by using a distraction, namely the preserved dragon and its anatomical diagrams on parchment. To those candidates, remember that I was discussing how dragons can fly, not how they can create fire from their mouths nor be harmed by it."

"Here my digressions and distractions end. By demonstrating that a dragon does not possess the glands necessary for the creation of some sort as-yet-unknown chemicals for fire, one must consider that it creates fire by pure thought. This bold conclusion led me to look more closely into its brain structure--by examining the interior of its skull in fine detail, using wax molds--and behold what was discovered were two lobes, right and left, found in no other living creature, mammal, bird or reptile."

"And thus, in conclusion, I propose that any and all magical powers must have an analog in everyday biology. Magic must come through Nature, not above or around it. What allows a dragon to bellow fire is the same natural formation that allows it to fly."


End file.
